The movie begins with a static shot of two Iranians discussing the wife’s plea for a divorce. We sit in the judge’s seat; the couple faces us, arguing endlessly, without either giving in.

The title is, “A Separation.”

Except what seems like the main story here is only the background. The film is, indeed, about splits. But it’s about the division between not just husband and wife but male and female, truth and lies, secular and religious, moral and practical.

And none of these breaks can be easily mended.

The first scene is, in many ways, a playful feint by filmmaker Asghar Farhadi, putting the real story in motion; with the wife gone, the husband must now seek a caretaker for his father, who is already thick in the fog of Alzheimer’s.

And that’s when the separations begin.

The woman he hires is a devout Muslim, who worries about the propriety of being alone with even an elderly man; she’s also not particularly pleased with the pay. And as the dispute between employer and employee grows, it involves larger questions of honesty and perception – and finally, perhaps, a crime.

Farhadi handles all of this with scrupulous fairness, and an avoidance of any melodrama (we don’t even hear a snatch of soundtrack music until the end). Like a good mystery novelist, he gives us all the facts, but so deftly that at first we don’t always grasp what’s important.

Even when the film moves towards its conclusion, we’re still unraveling the complications. Did he do what he’s been accused of? Is she telling the truth of what happened? We can’t believe our own eyes. How can we begin to pick one of the many competing narratives before us?

Although there’s a tendency in Iranian cinema to work with newcomers, Farhadi has chosen a strong cast of mostly professional actors, including Peyman Moaadi as the aggrieved husband and Leila Hatami as his independent wife. (One of the signs of her rebellion? Hennaed hair she refuses to let her headscarf completely contain.)

Yet the finest performance here may come from its youngest performer, Sarina Farhadi – the director’s daughter – playing the 11-year-old caught in her parents’ custody battle.

It’s a heartbreaking role because – like so many children – she has an inconvenient way of seeing the truth. Why is her mother doing this, if she doesn’t mean to follow through? Why is her father saying this, when it can’t possibly be correct?

We watch her slowly realize that the parents she worships are quite capable of breaking their word and telling lies. And it’s devastating for her, and for audiences; like “Tree of Life,” at its heart, this is a movie about the permanent loss of childhood innocence.

The movie leaves the ultimate truth about many of its episodes ambiguous; this seemed to frustrate the New York Film Festival audience I saw it with, who wanted their questions answered.

I, however, felt mine already had been. What does it matter how various legal issues are decided in court? That will go on and on for years, long after this movie ends. What really matters is how this little girl now views the world.

And that, sadly, has been resolved long before the final fadeout.

Ratings note: The film contains mature subject matter.

'A SEPARATION' (PG-13) Sony Pictures Classics (123 min.)
Directed by Asghar Farhadi. With Peyman Moaadi, Leila Hatami. In Farsi, with English subtitles. Now playing in New York.
FOUR STARS